


Reluctant Cooperation

by Horned_Atlas



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-10-01 11:24:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17243378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Horned_Atlas/pseuds/Horned_Atlas
Summary: When a passing joke snowballs into something completely unexpected, what should have been a tame business trip becomes Joey and Kaiba's mission to pull off the greatest hoax they could possibly imagine- being in a stable, long-term relationship together. As time goes on and reality sets in, it becomes more and more obvious that the truth always comes out in the end.





	1. Chapter 1

Joey set the coffee cups on the game shop counter as the store’s door clicked shut behind him. The drinks were still at the point where they were just that little bit too hot to drink, but the smell of the hyper-sweet syrups immediately mixed in the air with the chatter of the talkshow hosts on whatever radio station Yugi had put on that was burbling quietly in the background.

“’Ey Yug’! You still holdin’ the fort okay? Sorry for the holdup man, the shop down the road had all their Christmas stuff half off, so I thought I’d get us both some pick-me-ups before we both die of exhaustion.” Joey announced as he tugged a crumpled brown paper bag out of his winter coat’s pocket, tucking his mittens down into the now empty space beside his phone.

“Oh, don’t worry about it! Thanks for the drink, I’ll pay you back after I sort out these decorations.” Yugi’s voice rung out from behind a nearby display, spoken in his ever chipper tone. He stood up, dusting himself off and picking off a few speckled pieces of snowflake confetti that seemed to refuse to let go of his jumper. “What smells so good?”

“huh? Nah, don’t worry about the money! ‘S on me this time, I still owe ya a bunch from the last few years. Oh- and I got you some kinda gingerbread flavoured latte. Latte’s the one you like, right? Anyway, it was the one the barista suggested. That’s gotta be the one people like the most, they said they bought way too much after they kept selling outta the stuff.” As Joey replied, he dumped the contents of the paper bag, a fistful’s worth of brightly coloured lollipops, into a shiny pencil holder with a clatter next to a sign saying ‘please take one!’ in neat handwriting.

He began to unwind the thick knitted scarf from his neck, the little glimmers of freezing rain locked into its stitches biting into his hands. As he looked around the room, the homey atmosphere of the multi-coloured fairy lights Yugi refused to take down and lovingly arranged display cabinets led his mind to all the things that had happened in the past few months since they’d graduated. Yugi had taken over the game shop and took to looking after his grandfather with all the grace and compassion of a man wizened far beyond his years while Joey had found his place in the professional duellist’s circuit, proudly finding himself able to comfortably live off his winnings. Everyone seemed to have landed roughly where they had expected to.

This train of thought was abruptly cut short as he heard the sound of the door clattering open, someone angrily huffing and cursing under their breath as they marched up towards the two.

“oh, uh, sorry, but we’re closed-“  
“Uh, Yugi, I’m so not here to buy anything. Who’d even be out shopping for cards this late?”

Spinning around, Joey was met with a beyond disgruntled Mokuba, who stomped next to him and promptly parked himself on the store counter, grabbing Joey’s coffee and downing it in one swift motion.  
“what- Hey, that’s mine!” Joey snatched back the now bone-dry coffee cup as Mokuba popped a lollipop in his mouth and slumped back with a defeated sigh. “How’d you even down it that fast? That coffee was only made, like, ten minutes ago!”

“I’ve drank hotter. But seriously guys, I need a little help… Okay, I actually need more than a little. I really, royally goofed up this time.”

Concern set in instantly. “oh gee. How did you mess up? Are you alright?”  
“wait, do I gotta lock the door? Who’s after ya, kid?”  
“Huh? No, no, I’m fine. Nobody’s trying to get me this time, thank God. It’s just…” he sighed and stretched out on the counter, biting his tongue as if the words he was trying to say tasted awful. “I think I did something really bad for Seto.”  
“wait, what? You mean your brother? Surely he’s got enough money to throw at his problems to make ‘em go away.” For that, Joey got a soft elbow to the ribs from Yugi as Mokuba rolled his eyes with all the melodramatic flair only a teenager could have.

“If he could do that, would I be here right now? Nope! Uh, no offence. But this isn’t anything business related. If it was, I could solve it a heck of a lot easier than something personal like this! You see, some business events are coming up and they asked who was coming and as a joke I said Seto had a fiancé who was coming because c’mon it’s only been like a few days since they saw us for Christmas event of course it was just gonna be the two of us again and I didn’t realise they couldn’t tell I was kidding and they’ve already set everything up and it's way too late to change all the bookings because there's now apparently going to be a big press event and interviews and” He gulped down a deep breath, his face reddened from the lack of air, before letting out a shuddering breath. “And now I have four hours to find him a fake fiancé.”

The cackle that burst out of Joey’s mouth could rival the evil laugh of the Wicked Witch of the West. “Four hours, huh? So now your brother’s sent you out to see if you could borrow Téa or Mai? God man, you gotta warn me before ya say stuff like that or you might kill me!”  
“actually, it’s even worse than just that. That’s why I came to you guys.” Mokuba looked at Joey sheepishly, the veins in his eyes and the beginnings of puffy dark circles making it all too clear that this was deathly serious despite his gossipy tone. “can you promise me that you’ll keep this a secret?”

“Uh… sure? Sure, yeah, we’ll keep our big mouths shut. What’s the problem?”  
“Seto isn’t… into… girls. He’s going to use this as a chance to come out.”  
“Nobody’s gonna be surprised.” Joey stated plainly, before a not-so-playful punch thwacked him in the arm and he quickly learned Mokuba was definitely tougher than he used to be.  
“That’s not funny, Joey! I don’t know how anyone will take this, and it could go really, really bad; there are some real horror stories out there.”  
Yugi finally broke his silence, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder and smiling earnestly. “Don’t worry Mokuba, Joey wasn’t trying to be mean. But I don’t think I know any guys that don’t have plans over the holidays… I’d offer to go myself, but Grandpa’s just too frail to be alone at this point.”  
“Dang it! I’m really running out of options here. Joey, what about you? Please?”  
“Are you kidding me? I think Kaiba would rather die than be nice to me.”  
“Please, please, please? He’ll be nice! I’ll get you all the new duel equipment! I’ll buy you any cards you’ve ever wanted! And a dog! a house! Anything! Please!”  
After much begging, tugging on his shirt and pouting with the most heart-wrenching puppy eyes he’d ever seen in his entire life, Joey eventually gave in, regretting his decision and cursing the soft spot in his heart that had grown for the kid almost immediately as Mokuba grabbed his arms and laughed, loudly promising him all the fun he’d have at the event as his new ‘big brother-in-law’ with all the glee of a man saved from death row.

Before he could go back on his word, Joey was dragged off through the game shop’s doors and into the back of a sleek black limousine. There, comfortably settled by the window, sat the man in question, calmly tapping away at the well-worn keys of a laptop.  
“Took you quite a while. Let me guess, no luck?” Kaiba said, eyes not moving from whatever he was focusing on.  
“C’mon man, give the squirt some credit. He’s got a real talent for bein’ impossible to say no to”  
“Wheeler. Never thought I’d see the day where you’d actually want to be in the same room as me, let alone get wrapped up in anything even a fraction as convoluted as this. I have to say Mokuba, I’m extremely impressed.” Seto looked up at the two as they stepped in and got comfortable, one with considerably more grace than the other. Mokuba seemed very content as he perched down beside his older brother, leaning on his shoulder while trying and failing to stifle a yawn.  
“so, uh… Mokuba, didn’t ya say you had a couple hours to find someone? Why are we setting off now?”  
“Oh, that’s simple. We’d be getting strange looks if you showed up to an event like this looking like that. But on top of that, what kind of romantic partner would I look like if I didn’t show you at least a little luxury?” Kaiba’s voice wavered as he fought tooth and nail to keep his composure, but gave up entirely when he saw almost every emotion under the sun painted on Joey’s face. He shook his head, unable to contain his laughter as he reflected on the downright bizarre situation. “This is going to be a very strange holiday.”

Joey found himself unable to speak any more than a quiet ‘yeah’, choosing to simply stare out of the window and watch the world flow by, blurred by condensation and the pattering of raindrops on the window. Everything about the situation felt alien, as though the Kaiba brothers had been kidnapped in the night and replaced by only half-convincing android replicas. Was he dreaming? It wasn’t as if he didn’t have a weirdly long track record of bizarre dreams revolving around Kaiba, but it was unusual for him to be anything less than a rude, cold-hearted, mean spirited…

“-ler? Wheeler?”  
“uh, ground control to space cadet Joey? Snap out of it, we’re here!”  
Joey jolted upright, turning to look at the two brothers as they watched him from outside the vehicle. “what? We’re where?”  
“The clothes store, dummy! Remember? Geez, we were only driving for like 10 minutes.”  
“give him credit where it’s due. Mokuba. It’s a miracle Wheeler’s able to think at all since his IQ is only in the single digits.” Kaiba muttered without thinking, wiping the rain off his face.  
“Shut it, you ass. Do you want me to help you or not?”  
“Yeah! C’mon Seto, I gotta side with Joey on this one. That’s no way to talk to your fiancé! At least call him by his first name” Mokuba giggled, dragging a still slightly dazed Joey out of the car and into the store. 

The shop itself was bright and empty feeling, deathly silent aside from the echoes of their footsteps on the marble floor as the lights bathed the spacious room in a pale cream. Everything about the room felt expensive, from the sleek looking matte black mannequins, whose eyeless faces seemed to gaze down upon him with all the disinterest of Seto Kaiba himself from up on their pedestals, to the floor-to-ceiling Venetian mirrors spaced out evenly along the walls. 

Joey found himself having plenty of time to take all of this in as the brothers spoke to the clerk, not skipping any details about the situation other than the fact that this was a farce. he couldn’t understand why information like the third day being the event planner's father’s sister’s husband’s birthday was even slightly relevant to clothing, but seeing as they were talking without leaving any space for him to even think about speaking, he let them sort everything out until the clerk clapped their hands together and wordlessly swept him away to a small changing room in the back of the store, closing a thick velvet curtain behind them both. 

Despite the cluster of questions forming in his mind, he couldn’t even find the words needed to ask what was happening as the clerk removed what he’d been wearing and posing him as if he were a mannequin himself, having to say little more than ‘back straight’ and ‘arms up’ to get joey to behave without question, the words held down in the front of his mind as they used a measuring tape to map out every millimetre of his body, taking note of every curve and angle, length and width, perfection and imperfection; done in a way where he found himself noticing all the ways his body had changed that he hadn’t noticed before but was completely comfortable allowing a complete stranger to know. Were anyone else eying him so entirely, he’d have punched them into the next year five minutes ago. And then, with one final nod, the clerk left.

“what the… what just happened?” he quietly asked the empty room, if just to fill the space with something more than the quiet sound of himself breathing and the feint scent of tropical fruit. Despite the warmth of the store, he felt himself shiver.

The rest fell into a blur of a seemingly never-ending stream of clothing, each almost certainly costing more than a month’s rent and feeling the most comfortable he’d ever felt despite the clerk’s consistent rejection until finally, after what felt like the slowest hour of his life, the week’s wardrobe had been created and Joey was trotted back out to where the brothers had been waiting, one nose-deep in a book and the other tapping at his phone, where he was handed a glass of ice water.

When they sat back down in the limousine, he felt in desperate need of a long nap.  
“before you ask, that never stops being weird. You get kinda used to it after a while though.” Mokuba stated calmly and patted him on the shoulder, and that was all he needed as a hint that it was okay for him to get some sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally supposed to be a Christmas thing, but because I've never posted anything I've written online before this went through so many re-reads that I missed the timing completely haha... But anyway, I hope it's at least readable?


	2. Chapter 2

A soft weight slumping onto Joey’s shoulder was just enough to nudge him back awake, and as he sat blinking away the sleep from his eyes he was struck by just how dark the back of the limousine was. He was sure that when he fell asleep the sun had only just dipped under the horizon and he felt as though he’d only just shut his eyes, but despite what his still half-asleep brain was telling him, it was clear that both the sun and Domino’s city lights were long behind them. The only light seemingly for miles was the dim orange pulse of streetlights shooting past the window as they sped through the evenly spaced beams that were dotted along an unfamiliar stretch of highway. 

As he looked around trying to get his bearings in the dark, he found Mokuba slouched against his side, barely propped upright and wobbling precariously at even the slightest of bumps in the road. He thought about moving him somewhere more reliable, but stopped short of actually budging him anywhere as he looked down at the younger Kaiba. He seemed entirely content in his sleep as his head lay buried in a soft nest of hair that swaddled his skull like a silk veil, the way his body swayed with the movement of the vehicle rocking him like a cradle. Joey had fully expected the Kaiba brothers to still be wide awake despite how late it seemed to be, perhaps even ready to mock him for being able to fall asleep so easily, but instead he was granted a peek into the private, more vulnerable side of themselves they never let the outside world see.

In fact, on closer look, he noticed that this probably wasn’t even a calculated nap. Kaiba’s laptop still sat open with its screen blank, his hands dead on the keys as if he were mid-sentence when he crashed out. The situation seemed so domestic, so undeniably human, that he felt far more at ease about spending the week with them. Well, that was until a hushed whisper made his heart stop.

“stop watching us. It’s weird.” Kaiba’s pointed tone sliced through the white noise of the engine with a chilling level of command despite his relaxed posture, his eyes still closed. “I’m warning you, don’t bother trying anything.”

“What? Hey man, I wasn’t planning to-”

“no, you listen to me for once, you can’t hurt me now because you’re just a ghost.” 

Oh. He was sleep talking. Relief washed over him as he turned away to stare out the window, happily taking that as a warning before he got caught for real, but as the euphoria of a hit of good fortune wore off he thought about what he’d heard and felt a chill go down his spine. He couldn’t help but wonder whether Kaiba was merely having a nightmare or was actually being visited by someone from beyond the grave in his sleep. That thought was quickly shoved to the back of his mind as he chose instead to check his phone and find something less creepy to think about before he psyched himself out.

As soon as he pressed the power button of his phone, he was hit with intense regret- the glare of the phone screen was horrific, lighting up the entire vehicle as if it’d been struck by lightning. He was convinced he was going to suffer permanent retina damage, quickly scrambling to lower the brightness as Mokuba groaned loudly, but quickly settled back down once the brightness was lowered, seeming to fall right back to sleep with the tail end of the complaint turning into a quiet snore. Kaiba however remained completely dead to the world, still trapped in his nightmare séance. Wait, was he trapped?

“nope, I’m not thinking about that” he whispered to himself, hoping the words would come true if he said them out loud.

Looking back down at his phone, two notifications from Yugi that had been sent a few hours ago caught his eye.  
¬ Hey Joey, thanks for the help today! Text me if anything goes wrong, ok?  
¬ Wait, where are you going again?

Where was he going? He was going on a business trip, that he knew, but it dawned on him that he’d never asked for any specifics about where the trip actually was before they’d set off. Surely it couldn’t be anywhere too crazy though, since Mokuba had told him that they’d been there on another trip just a few days ago and come back. If it was anywhere outrageous, they wouldn’t have bothered trudging all the way back to the Domino area for such a short time, he reasoned.

¬ Don’t you mean WHEN something goes wrong? Kidding! I’ll be fine  
¬ Also I don’t know, they didn’t say. Didn’t they say they were just there for like Christmas or something though?

As soon as he’d sent both texts and switched onto a different app, the phone buzzed with a new message from Yugi.

¬ Uh, Joey?? They were in Berlin for Christmas!!

And just like that, the last remnants of sleepiness were shot out of his system. There was no way in hell he was going to be leaving the country. All he had was the clothes he’d been bought, his phone and the contents of his coat pockets. A heavy dread begun to manifest inside his gut as his head swam with all the things he’d had no idea he was getting thrown into. He realised if things went wrong he could easily be abandoned in Germany, left to rot with no passport to his name and no understanding of the language, and with the history he had with Kaiba and his laissez-faire attitude to the deaths of others, he knew this wasn’t entirely off the table if he irritated him too much. He just hoped Mokuba wouldn’t be so heartless as to forget him. His hands, now numb and trembling up to the elbow at the thought, now fully spooked, fished around for his earbuds as he hoped some music would take his mind off of things.

Mokuba did not take kindly to all the nudging and bright lights. Especially when Joey’s rustling around in his pockets was the final straw that caused his head to finally topple off his shoulder, his whole body tumbling forwards and getting caught with a painful jolt by his seatbelt, his bewildered squawk shocking his brother wide awake.

“Oh. Uh, sorry guys. I was just trying to grab my headphones.”

Both brothers grumbled something incomprehensible, mirroring each other near perfectly as they rubbed the sleep out of their eyes, stretched and cracked their knuckles. Joey noticed that Kaiba seemed considerably keener to be awake, but decided not to draw any conclusions about why. At least now that they were awake, he’d be able to get some answers.

“Quick question, where are we actually going? Like, yeah, a business trip, but clearly it’s a lot further than I thought it would be.”

“You didn’t think to ask?” Kaiba grumbled, groggily turning to look at him.

“I’m asking now!”

“Berlin, Germany.”

Mokuba looked away sheepishly as the words came out of his brother’s mouth, hunched over and folding his arms in front of his chest as he focussed on a patch of floor just in front of his feet. “I figured you wouldn’t want to come if you knew it was super far away. I know it was wrong of me to not tell you, but you were my last shot…”

Joey ran a hand through his hair, closing his eyes and sighing out all of the built-up stress in his lungs until it felt like there was nothing left behind in his chest. He looked back at the brothers and chuckled dryly at the whole situation. 

“Know what? Forget it, man. Who am I to turn down an adventure, huh?” He playfully nudged Mokuba, who looked back up at him with his smile cautiously renewed. “not like I’ve never been weirder places for friends. But if I may ask, why the hell is it in Germany?”

“You’re asking that even though you have no idea what this is other than a business event. Surely even someone as dumb as you would assume that perhaps it’s in Germany because the people running it are, I don’t know, German?” Kaiba’s tone was back to being as dagger-sharp as it always was, even though he’d been sound asleep no less than five minutes ago.

“I mean, I guess, but you say it like that’s wrong”

“Just because it isn’t true doesn’t mean it’s not an incredibly stupid question for you to ask. But no, it’s not being curated by any natives to the country. On the contrary, it’s just Pegasus going to strange places to do strange things like the strange man he is once again. He’s making something to do with The Brothers Grimm and despite the fact that I would much rather spend my time being stuffed into a duffel bag filled with venomous snakes than spend any more time with him than absolutely necessary It would be remiss of me to skip any event he holds.” He huffed. “and believe me, I most certainly have better things to do with my time as well.”

“Don’t let Seto bring you down about this Joey, there’s actually going to be some pretty cool stuff there. Nobody was allowed on site while they set it up, but there’s talk of a lightshow walk around the gardens that’s gonna go down in history!”

“aw, sweet! Sounds like the perfect place to go hold hands and be mushy together for the crowd, eh Kaiba?”

The smile he got in return was warm, seeming to be an almost pristine act of affection aside from the unnatural stillness behind his eyes. It caught Joey off-guard, he remembered the look from the ride to Kaibaland the day of Death-T and the way he’d been relatively disarmed by the welcoming gaze for someone who’d nearly been fatally poisoned just the night before. He’d be lying if he said it didn’t send a shiver up his spine.

“why are you so good at that?”

“well, this has to be convincing. Look, the terminal for the plane’s coming up.”

It was obvious they weren’t going to be taking any normal planes, Joey had known the brothers for far too long to think they would accept anything less than the highest luxury available. Despite feeling completely out of his depth in high class spaces, he was sure that things would run smoothly as long as he let the brothers and their entourage handle things. He didn’t have his passport, or really any kind of genuine ID since he never bothered to learn how to drive, but they didn’t ask for it, so he kept it to himself. He quietly trailed behind the two and took the seat that was left open to him, the window seat opposite Mokuba, and quietly celebrated that for once his big mouth hadn’t gotten him in trouble.

After sitting quietly for a solid half an hour and subtly checking that Mokuba was definitely as asleep as he appeared to be, Kaiba put down the book he’d been reading and turned to properly face Joey.

“Well, we’ve sidestepped it as much as we usefully can, but I think it’s time we address the elephant in the room. We’re going to need to talk about our boundaries for the trip.”

“Oh no.”

“I dislike the thought of it too, but we’re going to have to do a little more than just play nice to actually sell this to anyone.” Despite his attempt to stay deadpanned, Kaiba seemed uncomfortable as he shifted in his seat. “do you have any specific physical boundaries for this?”

“Man, I don’t know! This is all new to me. I’d like to think I’m probably fine with most of the things you’re fine with, so why don’t you go first?”

“Alright. Nothing below the waist and don’t touch me too lightly, it makes my skin crawl. If you’re going to do something like hug me, you can’t do it by half measures.”

“Okay, sounds easy enough.”

“And as for the obvious things, don’t do anything you wouldn’t want people seeing. People will be watching. If anyone asks how this happened, just say it happened naturally and leave it at that. Let me do the talking.” After saying this, Kaiba promptly picked his book back up and settled into it as though the conversation had never happened. 

Joey wasn’t sure what to do now that the conversation was dead, since the brothers were now both preoccupied and his phone was off for the flight. He chose to just wait it out, watching engorged cumulus clouds loiter outside the plane’s window like a never-ending carpet of cotton buds for what felt like the slowest hour of his life. He could’ve sworn this was what purgatory was like, with the flight remaining ghostly quiet and dull as unflavoured tofu until Mokuba woke from his nap, immediately back to being the bundle of energy he was known for being. From then on, time flew as they grazed on a continuous stream of snack foods and played as many of the games Mokuba had brought as possible while Kaiba chose to remain quiet and focussed on his book. However, he couldn’t resist the urge to watch the two whenever they got especially competitive, silently routing for his brother who was, in his eyes, absolutely thrashing Joey despite the two having roughly even scores by the end of the journey.

Despite the flight lasting most of the day, the trip went painlessly, so much so that it caught everyone off-guard when they were told the flight would be landing. As the games were tidied away and the last of the snacks polished off, Kaiba quietly slipped the book he’d been pretending to read for the past however many hours back into his bag in the hopes that nobody had noticed him cheering from the side-lines like an absolute dork.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a pretty slow chapter, but now that they're actually at the destination it should pick up the pace from here!


	3. Chapter 3

After the final stretch of driving up to the location, all they all wanted to do was find where they’d be staying, settle down into their hotel suite and spend a quiet evening together so they could ease their jetlagged minds. Unfortunately, the moment they stepped out of the car they were approached by an official looking woman who clearly had other plans for them, wielding enough sheets of paper to publish a light novel tacked to a somewhat battered looking clipboard. She spoke quickly to Roland, flipping through sheets and ticking things off rhythmically until there was a lengthy pause. She hesitated for a second, re-read the page of notes she had open and turned to Kaiba.

“Excuse me, Mr Kaiba, when will your fiancée be arriving?”  
“Are you blind? He’s right here beside me.” Kaiba looped his arm around Joey’s waist, yanking him closer in an act of mock defensiveness which seemed to catch everyone off-guard. All Joey could think to do was steady himself and rest his head against the shoulder his head had crashed into, trying to smile as realistically as he could, hoping he appeared at least slightly more comfortable than he felt. 

“Ah. My sincerest apologies, sirs. Mr. Pegasus has invited you to a private dinner to celebrate your safe arrival.”

“I don’t like your tone.”

“Uh, Kaib’?” Joey piped up from between his gritted-toothed smile, racking his brains for something to say to stop the clearly overworked attendant from getting fired over a fake relationship.

“Joey, I’ve told you at least a thousand times, you’re allowed call me Seto in public.” Kaiba took a deep breath, using his free hand to rub his one of his temples. “But that’s beside the point. When’s this dinner?”

“I’ve been instructed to take you both whenever you’re ready.”

“Wait, am I not allowed to come too?” Mokuba chirped up from behind his mountain of luggage.

She re-checked her documents for the umpteenth time. “My apologies.”

He seemed mildly concerned by this, eying the pair cautiously before shrugging. “Don’t be too late, guys. Maybe, like, try to be back by 10? And can I get a pizza?”

Kaiba nodded, the brothers waved their goodbyes and they all began the walk their separate ways. Following the woman lead the pair down a secluded garden trail, and once the two were convinced nobody was looking, they slipped apart from one another. Kaiba rolled his shoulder, Joey rubbed his head and they looked in opposite directions until they entered an old building. Sensing that they were near where they were supposed to be as they approached a set of double doors they stepped closer to each other, clumsily grabbing each other’s hands and putting on brave faces.

As the door opened, Joey’s breath caught in his throat. It was almost exactly as luxurious as he’d imagined it, mahogany furniture weaving in and out of long shadows cast by tall candles that barely seemed to emit any light, merely creating a glowing path to the main table. Feint piano music echoed from an indistinct source, and everything swirled together into a lavish and otherworldly pool in his mind. He could feel his palms begin to sweat.

“So Kaiba boy, the rumours are true! Come here and let me get a good look at you and your mystery beau.” Pegasus’ voice rung out from the depths of the barely lit room. Kaiba had no hesitation in taking lengthy strides toward the two empty seats, seemingly not caring that he was practically dragging a stumbling Joey behind him, and pulled out one of the chairs before gesturing to it. When it didn’t click that he was supposed to sit down and that this was meant to be a cute gesture of affection, Kaiba subtly knocked him into the chair, trying not to grimace as he flopped into the seat with all the grace of a hammered seagull.

“Why, it’s one of Yugi boy’s ensemble! You spoke in passing about having put your old grudges behind you, but I never would’ve imagined that you meant it like this. Then again, you do love going to extremes!” Pegasus’ eyes shimmered in the lowlight as he clasped his hands together.

Sitting so close together, Joey could see Kaiba physically bristle at the comment. He budged himself closer and wrapped a haphazard arm around his shoulder, and before he could ask himself if what he did was even romantic outside of a sloppy first date he felt Kaiba lean into him and settle down into the crook of his neck, wrapping an arm around his waist.

“So it would seem. Now may I ask what this is about?” Kaiba replied as though this was the most normal thing in the world, defied solely by his cold and clammy palms as his hand clamped down on Joey’s side.

Pegasus laughed heartily. “For someone as ostentatious as yourself, I’m shocked it took Mokuba accidentally spilling the beans over the phone to get so much as a word about your relationship out of you. And to think you even got engaged behind my back! Kaiba boy, are you feeling quite alright? It isn’t like you to be so shy.”

“If you thought I put my entire life story out there on public record, then you were sorely mistaken.”

“Well, obviously.” Pegasus shrugged. “But an engagement! The tabloids and I have agreed for quite a while that you wouldn’t be modest about such a prime opportunity to host an extravagant event. And while we’re on the topic, I could’ve sworn I asked you about settling down before, but even mere months ago you said you had no such plan. What changed?”

“I proposed to him!” Joey blurted out. Something protective in him told him he needed to start running his mouth to keep the lie intact, even if the tightening grip on his waist was telling him in no uncertain terms to shut up. “and it was my idea to keep everything low-key, y’know, so that we can go at our own pace. Only Yugi and Mokuba actually knew.”

Silence. Pegasus seemed to search Kaiba’s eyes, hunting his soul for any trace of something amiss. 

“Just because I said I had no plans of settling down, that doesn’t mean I didn’t want to.”

“Oh, Kaiba boy. You truly are capricious, aren’t you?”

Now satisfied that all was well, Pegasus allowed the conversation to drift into idle chatter until the food arrived, and they all began to dig into their food once the two untangled themselves from one another.

They ate all sorts of fancy foods, the lengthy names of which went in one ear and out the other with Joey accepting that he really didn’t need to remember them unless he was looking to break the bank. They tasted as good as he imagined they would, but nothing struck him as anything worth bragging about trying, at least that was until the dessert was revealed. A literal mountain of choux pastries was placed in front of them, seemingly only being held together by a gossamer-thin layer of caramel.

“If he looks at you the way he’s looking at that Croquembouche, I’d have to admit that I would’ve swooned too in my younger years.”

“Dare I ask why you had this made just for a private dinner?” Kaiba asked, admittedly also slightly stunned.

“I thought it would be fitting to end a celebration for your engagement by giving you a little bit of wedding cake advice. I know you’re fond of a good showstopper.”

Kaiba delicately plucked the top pastry off the pile, inspected it, and popped it in Joey’s still agape mouth before returning to the conversation. 

\---

As soon as the door shut behind the two, they collapsed. Joey melodramatically draped himself over the sofa while Kaiba pressed his back against the door, letting his body sink down until he was curled into a seated foetal position on the floor.

Mokuba’s footsteps could be heard as his feet padded out from an unseen other room, peeking his head out from behind the door. He knew his brother could be rather cat-like in many ways, preferring to be the one to initiate physical contact and often leaving all too soon, but seeing his brother so thoroughly wiped out made it difficult to not want to wrap himself around him like a scarf.

Joey, however, was a complete enigma to him. He seemed to have fallen asleep the second his body hit the sofa cushions, still in his thick winter coat, still wearing yesterday’s clothes, still wearing muddy shoes. He couldn’t help but wriggle at the thought of sleeping in jeans- let alone jeans he’d worked a full day and travelled another in. He decided he had to intervene, fearing letting someone sleep like that being worth at least 20 years’ bad luck.

He slunk closer, circling the sofa like a vulture before settling behind it, leaning down and watching him rest.

“Uh, Joey?”

Joey lazily opened one eye. “Hey, squirt.”

“What happened? You were only gone a couple hours, it couldn’t have been that bad.”

“Nothin’s wrong, just tired. Ain’t you tired?”

“I mean, I’m not super tired, but-” Mokuba yawned before he could finish his answer.

“So, this the couch I’m crashing on while we’re here?”

“I mean, I don’t mind sharing a bed with Seto if you want a room.”

“I really don’t care about sharing a bed with Joey as long as he sticks to his side of the bed and doesn’t do anything too egregious.” Kaiba spoke clearly, even though he looked like he’d died on the welcome mat. “Oh, and Mokuba, come here for a second.” 

Mokuba did as he was told, beaming when he was hugged by his brother, even if it was only for a moment. Kaiba pulled something wrapped up in a napkin out of his pocket and handed it over, and he grinned when he realised it was a generous handful of pastries. A ‘thank you’ might have been said somewhere in between one choux and another, but it was lost as he wolfed them all down excitedly. 

Kaiba stood and stretched, cracking his knuckles as he checked his watch. He rustled a hand through his brother’s hair as he ate before taking off his shoes and coat; only stepping off the mat once the proper formalities were done like clockwork. He rummaged through his luggage wordlessly until he pulled out a small wash bag and nightclothes. 

“Mokuba, you should be getting ready for bed now, too.” he said as he shut the bathroom door behind him.

“Yeesh, guess he really is as constipated as he looks” Joey muttered to himself, but a loud snort from the other side of the room suggested he hadn’t been that subtle.

“It’s not that, he just has a routine he needs to follow.”

“Really? He never struck me as the kinda guy who’d aim to hit the sack at”, Joey checked the clock, “9:45.”

“Trust me, he’s not. It’s doctor’s orders. I used to have to drag him away from his work every night! It was like a really weird tug of war where you have a leg instead of a rope, but I always won!” Mokuba propped his hands on his hips triumphantly. “I’m way tougher than I look!”

“Oh yeah? Wanna prove it?”

The two took to the kitchen table to arm wrestle and play thumb wars. Joey was genuinely impressed, the kid was definitely tough as nails for his size, and he went a lot less easy on him then he imagined he’d have to. The scores were quickly forgotten in a haze of play fights and giggle fits, but that didn’t stop Mokuba from proclaiming himself ‘King of the Arms’ before knighting Joey with a wooden spoon he found in a drawer. 

Kaiba simply chose to observe once more while leaning against the bathroom door. Watching his brother play childish games so shamelessly woke something deep within his heart, like the cogs of long forgotten machine had clattered into place as he felt warmth radiate from his chest. He rubbed his eyes, deciding it was well passed time for him to get to bed despite the time still feeling far too early to him. He walked past them and into his room, soundlessly shutting the bedroom door behind him.

Not long after he’d lain down and settled into his book, Joey stepped through the door cautiously, hovering by the door frame rather than coming inside.

“You really sure you want me in here? I seriously don’t mind takin’ the couch.”

Kaiba looked at the empty half of the king-sized bed, then at Joey. “You’ll fit.”

Joey took that as enough of an answer, shutting the door and clambering into bed. He plugged his phone into its charger, looking down at it blankly as the screen woke, then faded off. He already had so much he needed to tell Yugi, but he was so tired he could barely think in coherent sentences, let alone write it all down. He promised himself he’d tell him everything tomorrow morning as soon as he woke up.

He lay back and let his eyes wander their way around the room. It was dusted in a hazy orange glow, the light from the bedside lamp on Kaiba’s side of the bed only just able to touch the farthest walls of the room. Everything had a cosy feel, it was certainly up market but still remained homely in its décor. A few years ago, he never would’ve seen himself feeling at home in any space with such a pleasant atmosphere, but here he was- ready to fall asleep at any second.

He glanced over at Kaiba and noted that their sleepwear was practically the same- just an oversized shirt and some pyjama pants. He’d expected something fancy, over the top or flashy, and while he’d been given more than he’d usually wear to bed he knew normal people clothes when he saw them. Perhaps they were a little softer, but other than that he would’ve assumed they’d been bought from an average shop. 

And then the light was flicked off.

The room was dark, but not oppressively so, and Joey’s ears began searching for any sounds in the silence. He’d always been the type of person who was able to fall asleep practically anywhere, but rest came faster when he had white noise to submerge himself into. The room was barren of outside noise, the thick walls hushing everything into complete radio silence except for the slow, rhythmic breathing of its occupants and the occasional rustling of movement as they settled down. Even though he knew better than to dance with the devil on night one, he wanted to shuffle closer to the other body in the bed. The fact that it was Kaiba barely phased him, the comforting presence of real human warmth reeling him in like a fish on a hook. He settled at the edge of his pillow that marked the end of his side of the bed, content that this was as close he could get without risking his life. Bit by bit, he felt his conscience slip away as he let their bodies synchronise.

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally supposed to be a Christmas thing, but because I've never posted anything I've written online before this went through so many re-reads that I missed the timing completely haha... But anyway, I hope it's at least readable?


End file.
